


children trying to touch the stars

by notquitepunkrock



Series: the kids you used to love, but then we grew old [6]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Bullies, Cute Kids, F/M, Family, Fluff, Friendship, Harry Potter Next Generation, High school teachers AU, In this au teddy went from no parents to all the parents, It's literally just small children being adorable and causing mischief, Ivy is Oliver's adopted daughter and I love her, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Take Your Kid To Work Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-28
Updated: 2017-09-28
Packaged: 2019-01-06 07:34:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12206724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notquitepunkrock/pseuds/notquitepunkrock
Summary: It's Take Your Kid To Work Day and Ivy, Teddy, and Vic are ready to cause mayhem and be adorable.





	children trying to touch the stars

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know okay, it's cute and kids are cute and I'm a mess, so here's this. My favorite thing is that Teddy spends all day bouncing from one to the next of each of his parent's classes, including Harry's, 'cause he has sO MANY and they all love him so much.

Ivy peered around the bleachers before darting forward, dashing into the storage closet quickly and returning with a trio of old towels. She picked her way through the metal maze with the towels, dropping them on the floor where Teddy and Vic were waiting for her. 

“Teddy, I need you to help me get the mats,” she hissed. “Vic, you wait here.”

Vic pouted, crossing her small arms. “I don’t want to,” she whined, stamping her foot. Her white sandal slapped against the gym floor and Teddy leaped forward, covering her mouth with her hand. 

“Hush, Vicki,” he hissed, eyes wide. “You get to stay and not get yelled at by the adults if they catch us, okay?” The tiny girl nodded quickly, stepping backwards and ushering them towards the opening again. 

Teddy followed Ivy back into the storage closet, and together they heaved one of the gym mats under their arms. “Careful, don’t let Daddy see you,” Ivy said, leading him back under the bleachers. They shoved and pulled the mat into the the small space until they reached Vic, where Ivy squeezed them beneath the metal scaffolding holding up the bleachers. She carefully laid out the towels over top of them as blankets.

Vic pulled a paper sign out of her backpack and carefully pushed against an old piece of gum stuck to the bottom of the bleachers to hold it up. “Chateau de Tedvivy” was scrawled across it in messy handwriting with pink stars and blue hearts and messy vines covering the margins.

“All done!” she announced, crossing her arms and grinning proudly. Teddy cheered quietly and gave her a high-five. “We can leave it for next time we come to work with our parents. It’s our secret place, right guys?” 

The pair of eight-year-olds giggled and nodded, sinking into gym mat. Ivy fell onto her back dramatically and gave a long sigh. Suddenly she shot upright and wrinkled her nose. “Ew, it smells like sweaty boys,” she exclaimed. She pushed Teddy’s face against the mat, and he gagged. “See? I hafta get some air fresh’ner or somethin’ next time I come, else we’ll die from stink.” 

Teddy shoved her off, rubbing at his nose. “Please do,” he agreed. “Vic, you did a great job decorating the sign.” The six-year-old blushed and nodded, standing on her toes to point out the details.

“Thanks, Teddy,” she said. “Look, there’s green vines for Ivy and blue hearts for you and pink flowers for me.” She plopped down onto the mat and tugged out a coloring book, beginning to color it diligently. 

Ivy and Teddy each immersed themselves in their own activities - Ivy with her toy cars and Teddy with a book he’d snuck out of his father and Sirius’ library. They sat there for about twenty minutes when they heard Ivy’s father calling for them from the locker room doors. All three children froze and stared at each other with wide eyes before hurriedly shoving their things into Vic’s backpack.

They waited until Oliver’s footsteps disappeared down into the girl’s locker room and hurried out from behind the bleachers, rushing through the doors to the gym and out into the sunshine. Vic brushed dust from her hair and Ivy wiped it from her cheeks right before Oliver came around the corner looking alarmed. 

“Hi, Daddy!” Ivy shrieked, jumping into his arms. “We were in the storage closet ‘cause you’ve got a buncha cool stuff in there.” 

Her friends nodded their heads quickly. “Yeah-huh. After the school’s over can we ride the scooters in the gym?” Vic added, batting her eyes adorably.

Oliver rolled his eyes. “Your parents have been looking for you, scared me half to death,” he scolded, though he was smiling. “If you three behave today I’ll let you ride the scooters, alright?” 

Once the trio of children agreed, he took Vic’s hand and led them inside the main building of the school. “Teddy, your, uh, Sirius is waiting for you in the staff room, so go on ahead,” he said, nodding towards the wing where the teacher’s lounge was tucked away between computer labs. “Victoire, I promised your dad I’d walk him to his room.”

“Bye, Teddy!” Ivy yelled as the short boy ran off, startling some students who were waiting for the first bell to ring. She smiled sheepishly and waved, clinging to her smaller friend’s hand until they reached the Latin classroom. 

Bill Weasley was writing something on the board when they entered, turning to grin at his daughter and his friend. “There you are, Princess, I was starting to think you’d been stolen by some students,” he teased, kissing the top of her head and helping her climb into his desk chair. He turned to Oliver, looking relieved. “Thank you for finding her.”

“It was no problem, she was just with Ivy and Teddy Lupin,” he shrugged. 

“Still,” Bill said empathetically. “How’re you, Ivy? Excited to help your dad run gym class?” The girl nodded, her thick waves falling into her dark eyes with the movement. She shoved it back with a sweaty hand.

“Uh-huh,” she said happily. “I’m gonna make ‘em run laps an’ blow the whistle if they start walking.”

Bill chuckled and ruffled her hair. “You are your father’s daughter,” he teased. “See you two at lunch, alright?” The Woods nodded and left the classroom, so just Vic and Bill remained. He turned on the Disney Pandora station and went back to work writing on the board, the pair of them singing along loudly and dancing to the songs while they waited for the first bell.

\---

Teddy found Sirius in the teacher’s lounge and got a piggyback ride up to the English hallway, laughing wildly and startling a few tired teenagers. When they got there, Sirius plopped him onto the ground and handed him a brand new pack of dry erase markers. “I need someone to write today’s riddle on the board,” he said seriously. 

The small boy’s eyes widened. “I wanna do it!” he exclaimed, already sitting on the floor to open the pack of markers. He picked out a turquoise one and held it up. “This one matches my hair, I’m gonna use it.” 

Sirius chuckled and bent down to pick him up, running his hand through said turqoise curls. (They’d been dyed the bright color by Teddy’s mother, Tonks, who was very determined to let him express himself in whatever ways he saw fit.) He swung the kid around so that he was clinging to his back again. With his hands free, he was able to pull one of the desks out of a row and in front of the whiteboard. 

“‘Kay, don’t tell Dad I let you stand on the desk, but I want you to write this riddle, okay?” He pulled a crumpled slip of paper out of his pocket and handed it to the boy, who studied it carefully with his dark eyes before he turned to write it. 

With Teddy occupied for the moment, Sirius began writing the week’s agenda on the board in a dark red color. In bright pink, he added a notice about the fashion club meeting on Thursday and the due date for the students’ proofread essay was jotted down in dark blue. 

“All done,” Teddy said, carefully sitting down on the desk before he hopped to the floor.

Sirius looked up at the board to see Teddy’s messy scrawl that started large and steadily got smaller. The riddle,  _ “What has cities but no houses, forests but no trees, and water but no fish?”  _  was a good one, in his opinion. It was sure to stump his students.

Teddy pushed the desk back into its spot when the bell rang. He gasped, and ran over to the door, pushing it open and placing the doorstop before Sirius could reach the door. “Thanks, kiddo,” he grinned, holding up his hand for a high-five. “Go start putting the exam review booklets on the desks, okay?”

“Okay, Siri,” he said with a dimpled smile. Students filed in, grinning at the sight of the small boy as they took their seats. By the time the tardy bell had rung, he’d already been fawned over by half of the girls in the class and a good number of the boys, too.

Sirius took his place at the front of the room while Teddy hopped up into the desk chair, watching with interest as the man started class.

“Okay, does anyone know the answer to the riddle?” he asked, raising his eyebrows. When no one raised their hands he laughed. “No one? Seriously guys?”

A girl with purple glasses and long brown hair tentatively raised her hand. “Is it a map?” she asked cautiously. 

“Bingo!” Sirius yelled. “Good job, Rebel. See guys, this is how participation works. Teddy, give the girl some candy.” 

Teddy nodded and opened a drawer in Sirius’ desk, picking out a full size pack of M&M’s and holding it up. “Do you like chocolate?” he asked, and Rebel nodded. He grinned and hurried over with the bag. “Here ya go.”

“Thanks… Teddy, was it?” she said, glancing up at her teacher. 

“You’re welcome!” he said, grinning and exposing the gap between his two front teeth. 

Sirius smiled fondly as he hurried back to the desk. A boy with blonde hair raised his hand. “Mr. Black, I didn’t know you had a kid,” he said, frowning. “Why’ve you never mentioned him before?” 

Sirius shrugged. “Never came up. Everyone, this is Teddy,” he added, gesturing to the boy who was twisting back and forth in the chair. He grinned again and nodded enthusiastically.

“Sirius is my stepdad!” he exclaimed. “Right, Siri?” Sirius turned red and nodded, but the little boy wasn’t done. For the first time in his life, Sirius was cursing the fact that he’d inherited his mother’s motormouth and not his father’s silence. “My daddy is Mr. Lupin, and my momma is Tonks, and my godfather is Mr. Potter. My whole family is here, practically.”

There was silence in the classroom, before it exploded with noise.

“I didn’t know you were married!”

“Tonks has a kid?”

“Mr. Lupin and Tonks were married?”

“You’re married to Tonks? But you’re way old!” 

The man shot his stepson a look, and raised his eyebrows. Teddy grinned sheepishly. “Guys!” he announced, bringing the talking to an end immediately. “Um, I’m not married to Tonks. She’s my cousin. I’m married to Mr. Lupin.”

It was so quiet you could practically hear the crickets.

“I knew it!” A girl with brightly dyed hair and glasses who was sitting beside Rebel announced. “Lilith owes me ten bucks.”

The excitement was over after that, moving on to discussing their recent Mock AP Exam, and Teddy helped his stepfather as if nothing had happened. Somehow, the news that Mr. Black the AP Literature teacher and Mr. Lupin the librarian were married still made it through the school by lunch, but no one was terribly surprised by the news.

\---

Ivy blew hard on her whistle, much to the displeasure of the freshmen in gym class. “Time to hit the showers,” she yelled into the megaphone. There was an audible sigh of relief from the students on the soccer field.

She helped her father carry the clipboard and hurried into the gym, passing by a group of girls who were clustered together on her way.

“What a snotty little kid, honestly,” one said, rolling her eyes. “Just shut up, you’re just Coach Wood’s daughter, you’re not the teacher.”

“I know right? Gym isn’t supposed to be this hard,” another complained, wiping sweat from her face. “She’s such a brat.”

Ivy’s cheeks heated up and she took off, pushing past the girls to run into the gym and throwing herself into her father’s office. She curled up in a ball under his desk and pressed her palms into her eyes, trying to fight the urge to start crying.

“Ivy?” Coach Ginny stuck her head into Oliver’s office, a frown on her freckled face. “What’s wrong, Superstar?”

“Go away,” Ivy sniffled, curling up even tighter. She heard footsteps approaching the desk, and the sound of the chair being rolled away. Ginny’s hands gently encircled her wrists and pulled them away. 

“Talk to me,” she said quietly. Ivy sniffed, lower lip quivering. She wasn’t one for crying but what those girls had said was  _ mean _ . “Did someone say something?” 

Slowly, Ivy nodded, hot tears running down her red cheeks. 

“Who was it?” Ginny asked quietly, pulling her out from under the desk. “What did they say?” 

“Dunno,” Ivy whimpered. “They-They said I’m a brat and I should just shut up ‘cause I’m not the teacher. Ginny, I wasn’t try-trying to be mean! It’s soccer and I wanted them to do good ‘cause I love soccer.”

Ginny shushed her, one hand still wrapped over her small ones and the other rubbing soothing circles on her back. “I know, honey,” she said. “You’re going to be a soccer star just like your dad. I’ll talk to them, okay? I bet I know who it was. Was it a bunch of girls, and the main one was short and had black hair?” 

Ivy nodded slowly, her tears starting to slow. “Don’t, they’ll think I tattled, and I don’t wanna be a tattletale. Fred and George say that’s the worst kinda person,” she said. 

Ginny laughed. “I love my brothers, but you should never take anything they say to heart unless it’s about science,” she said seriously. “I’ll just let them know how much soccer means to them and remind them to pick on people their own size next time, okay?”

“Okay,” Ivy whispered hesitantly. 

“Great,” Ginny said, pushing herself to her feet and holding out her hand. “Let’s go get you some Gatorade okay? I think you’ve earned it, superstar.” Ivy giggled and used Ginny’s hand to pull herself to her feet. 

They ran into Oliver on the way out of the office. “Is everything okay?” he asked, frowning at the red in his daughter’s eyes. “I saw Ivy run in here and she looked upset.”

Ginny shared a look with Ivy, who shook her head slightly. “Everything’s fine,” she assured him. “But I’m gonna have Ivy help me for third period, we’ve got plans. I’ve got to talk to Jessica Finch-Fletchley and Mary-Ellen Smith about something real quick, and then we’re getting something to drink. Has the bell rung yet?” 

Oliver shook his head, still looking concerned. Still, he dug into his pocket and pulled out a wrinkled five dollar bill. “Take care of my kid, Weasley,” he said warningly, dropping a kiss onto the top of the tall girl’s head.

Ginny took the money and pocketed it, rolling her eyes. “You know I will, Wood,” she laughed. “C’mon, V, that drinks machine is calling my name.” She led the way into the main floor of the gym, pausing for a moment at the sidelines. She handed a crisp dollar bill to Ivy and pointed her to the vending machine before blowing sharply on her whistle. She set her face into her classic Weasley glare, and cupped her hands around her mouth. “Finch-Fletchley, Smith, c’mere! We need to talk.”

\---

Vic yawned, spinning her mother’s chair in circles that would make anyone else dizzy. Sitting in on her father’s lessons was fun - they were learning all sorts of things about ancient civilizations, and his lectures were always interesting. But it was fourth period, which meant he had a planning period that he needed to use for actual planning, so she’d been sent to her mother’s classroom.

That wasn’t to say she didn’t  _ like _ her mother. Fleur Delacour-Weasley was the prettiest and funniest and nicest person in the whole wide world. But she taught French, and Vic had been speaking French pretty much since she was born. She was better at it than all of the kids in her classes would ever be.

She sighed again, resting her chin on her arms and watching the class blankly. This was so  _ boring _ . 

A conversation from the two girls sitting near her mother’s desk caught her attention. The two girls were whispering in French that was good, but not perfect. Vic subtly scooted the chair in, leaning closer to hear what they were saying.

_ “He’s cute, but he’s not my type,” _ one girl whispered, shaking her head.  _ “What about Black? He’s got that broody emo thing going on, but it’s kind of hot.” _

The other girl pursed her lips looking thoughtful, then nodded.  _ “He looks a bit rock and roll for my tastes, but you should go for it.” _

Vic frowned. She leaned towards them even more, her long blonde hair falling over one shoulder. “ _ Are you talking about Regulus?” _ she asked in whisper, a perfect French accent spilling from her lips. The girls started, turning to stare at her with wide eyes. Clearly, they weren’t expecting her to know the language, which Vic thought was stupid. Her mother was from France and taught the class. Honestly, Teddy was smarter than them, and he was an idiot.

_ “I said, are you talking about Regulus?” _ she repeated, tilting her head. One of the girls nodded, clearly still startled. The other girl frowned. It was a shame. She was pretty when she was smiling.

_ “Yes. How do you know him?”  _ she said, eyes flicking to the front of the room, where Vic’s mother was still talking about something or other. Vic didn’t know, and she didn’t really care.

She rolled her pale blue eyes.  _ “My best friend Teddy is his nephew or something,”  _ she explained.  _ “And Regulus’ brother is my Uncle Harry’s godfather. Who’s Teddy’s godfather. It’s… messy.” _

“Victoire.” Her mother’s stern voice caused Vic to snap to attention. She waved sheepishly and sat up, scooting her chair away from the desk and returning to a long-abandoned coloring book. 

When Fleur had turned back to lecturing, she leaned over again.  _ “I wouldn’t bother with Reg, he doesn’t date,” _ she informed the girls, before actually concentrating on the coloring page in front of her. She couldn’t wait to tell Teddy she’d defended Regulus’ honor. That meant she would get to be the knight next time they played Royalty.

She couldn’t wait.

\---

Teddy, Vic, and Ivy burst in the doors of the Burrow. The former pair wrapped their arms around their Gran Molly, while Ivy hung back receiving a hair ruffle from Arthur instead. 

“So, how was your day?” Molly asked, directing the question as much to the three children as to their parents. She placed a plate of cookies on the table, and Tonks whisked in to grab one before her son could eat them all.

“It was great, Gran Molly!” Teddy announced, climbing up into a chair and swinging his chubby legs once he was seated. He grabbed a cookies and waved it around as he spoke. “I got to help Sirius do his riddle, and Daddy helped me with my homework in the library, and I heard all about Native Americans from Harry, and Mommy’s class was talking about ancient Greece!” At the end of his spiel, Teddy shoved the cookie into his mouth, reaching out with already chocolate stained hands to grab another.

Ivy nodded vigorously as her father placed a cookie in front of her with a juice box pulled from the bag on his shoulder. “Uh-huh, Miss Molly, guess what?”

Molly grinned, sitting down across from Vic, who had seated herself in between the two older children. “What is it, dear?” she asked, eyes twinkling. 

“I got to help Daddy  _ and _ Ginny with coaching, and it was awesome,” she declared, giving a wide toothy grin that made every adult crammed into the kitchen’s heart melt. She turned towards Vic, elbowing her in the side. “Tell ‘er what you told me at lunch, Vic, you gotta tell Teddy, too, anyway.”

The smallest of the three’s eyes widened and she nearly dropped her snack in her haste to sit upright. “I protected Regulus’ honor,” she announced, looking pointedly at Teddy. She seemed to ignore the way said teenager’s ears turned red at the announcement, even though he’d already heard about it during Harry’s fifth period from a laughing teacher. “Which means I did somethin’ chi-valar-ious,” she stumbled over the word ‘chivalrous,’ but the point was gathered, “which means I get to be a knight next time we play Royalty.”

Teddy held up his hands, which were covered in crumbs and chocolate. “Alright, alright, you can be a knight, silly. Can we go play now?” 

Remus stepped forward, brandishing wet wipes. “Not before I wipe your faces, you hooligans,” he teased, wiping his son’s hands and cheeks off. Vic and Ivy were mercifully still clean, though that certainly wouldn’t last long, as they were out the front door as soon as they were declared good to go. Regulus loped after them with his head ducked, muttering something about keeping them out of trouble. As if that was possible.

Molly turned to eye the parents in the room. There were so many of them for so few children - Remus, Tonks, Sirius, Harry and Ginny, Oliver, and Bill and Fleur. They all looked run ragged. Molly could only imagine why. She’d never participated in Take Your Kid To Work Day, having far too many children for her and her husband to handle in either of their jobs. But even the three children they had were a handful, and that was without counting baby Dominique, who was still at the babysitter’s for another hour.

“So, how  _ was _ your day?” she asked, raising a pale eyebrow. There was a resounding sigh, and all of the adults fell into the chairs around the large table. Arthur chuckled.

“That bad, huh?” he asked, taking his spot at the head and reaching for a cookie from the plate Teddy had left behind. 

Oliver, who had his forehead pressed against the wood of the table let out a long groan. “One child is plenty,” he said firmly. Molly covered a smile.

“That’s what we all say, dear,” she said, thinking back to a time when Bill was born and she’d sworn he’d be the only one. Oliver let out another groan, and everyone laughed. 

**Author's Note:**

> (pst, its funny 'cause I hc Oliver adopting two more daughters.)
> 
> Comments and Kudos are my life blood. Thanks for reading. xx  
> Tumblr is moonys-crappy-doodles


End file.
